Hisaburu: An Undiscovered Mega Mining Scam in
Odisha

Bhubaneswar | 18 August 2015

Last updated
10 Oct 2015 12:12:42 +0530

Odisha, Mining Scam, Uliburu, Hisaburu

Odisha
Vigilance
never inquired into the Hisaburu railway siding. Very lately the Director of
Mines sent the State Enforcement Squad to Hisaburu for inquiry in 2013. After
receiving the confidential investigation report of the squad the Director of
Mines is still sitting on it and not forwarding it to the government for action
since last one year.

Bibhuti Pati

This investigative report reveals
Hisaburu’s illegal headland heap. The heartstring of Hisaburu holds many top
Forest and Mining officers hangdog. Hisaburu openly tells the tales of some
forest and mining officials’ hooligan acts. From the holler of Hisburu, it’s
clear that some of the top forest and mining officers hustle tons of minerals
illegally in rails hackney-carriage. Hisaburu is the eye witness of this
government’s corrupt and hubris officers’ humbug nature and hoodwink activities
for the State. Hisaburu knows about these officials illegal hoarding but the
Naveen’s government is not ready to hear Hisaburu’s howl and his officers
hoodlums. When Hisaburu uttered about this the BJD government says its hogwash
of Hisaburu! Hitherto- Hisaburu is another big story of a mega mining scam which
is waiting for an investigation and justice.

On recapitulating the iron
ore mining scam, the case of illegal mining at Uliburu, under Joda Mining Circle of Keonjhar,
came to light. It was a scam of about 2000 crores, between 2003 and 2009 by
help of a power of attorney given to
Deepak Gupta by B.K.Mohanty to run his legally granted iron ore mines in the
Uliburu village. The B.K.Mohanty mines had been granted for mining for 20
years starting from 13.12.1983 till 12.12.2003.

No mining took place
during 20 years of the valid lease period. After expiry of the
lease in 2003, the Power of Attorney holder Deepak Gupta applied for
renewal and fraudulently managed to run the mines from 2004 to 2009 as
deemed renewal condition in connivance with the government officials without
any statutory clearance and by shifting the Uliburu reserve forest pillars
and extracting 47,48,826 MT of iron ore that caused loss of thousands of crores
of rupees (appx.Rs.839, 67, 11,748/-) to the state exchequer.

the state government, Under media pressure, engaged Vigilance department to
inquire on basis of the fact
that was long suppressed by the government. Even the Justice Shah
Commission was kept in dark about the huge scam. Though the state vigilance
submitted charge sheet against Gupta at Keonjhar vigilance court on 31.12.2013 and
24.06.2014, inquiry is still incomplete. But there is no reference of the Hisaburu railway siding situated at a distance of 5 KM
from the illegal Uliburu mines, which worked as the gateway to dispatch
iron ore by railway rakes.

From investigation, it was
found that in a very well planned way the Guptas, in connivance with the
government officials, made way to dispatch ore.

The father of Deepak Gupta, Haricharan, was the Director of Deepak Steel and Power Ltd. (DSPL) and was
running two Sponge Iron units – one at Uliburu (4 KM from the illegal
Uliburu mines) and another inside the granted R.P.Sao iron
ore mines under Joda Mining Circle. The South Eastern Railways had allowed
DSPL for private siding, under control of Badjamda Station Master in Jharkhand
by special circular No. – RG 46/4353 dt. 2/3/2007.

Subsequently on November
15, 2008, Haricharan Gupta applied in Form ‘A’ for trading and storing
license at Hisaburu railway siding without mentioning any plot number. This was
dealt by Purna Patra, the then DDM, Joda, in the official file No. - 60 VA –
542/2008. Patra, the DDM granted storing license No.68867 to Haricharan Gupta
i.e. DSPL for two years wef. 27/10/2008 to 26/10/2009 to store iron ore
and onward dispatch by railway only.

DSPL was operating the transactions
without clearance from Odisha Pollution Control Board. Only
on 11/11/2009 that the Regional Officer, State Pollution Control Board, Keonjhar, granted
the Consent to Operate till 10/12/2009, vide Letter No. 1477/10/12/2009, with condition
for necessary pollution control measures. After this, no compliance was made. Again the RO, SPB granted
consent on 24/4/2010 to operate till 31/3/2011. No further
consent to operate was given. All the transactions were made without valid
environment and pollution clearance.

During investigations, author sought answer to the following questions from the
Director of Mines, Dipak Mohanty, which remained unanswered even after 30 days.
The author, while submitting this piece, claims to have visual evidence of how
Mr. Mohanty refused to answer him.

The Unanswered Questions,

asked to Dipak Mohanty, Director of Mines

1. On Oct
28th 2008 the storing license was granted to Dipak Steel & Power at the Hisaburu
private railway siding by the Patra, DDM,Joda.In the monthly return filed by the
licensee it is seen that the opening balance was 1,43,000 tons of iron ore of
various sizes. How is it possible?

2. Your
District Level Squad raided the Hisaburu siding of Deepak Steel and Power in Oct
2009 and found that the documents are not valid for mineral transaction.
Accordingly the Patra, DDM,Joda (PCPatra)suspended the license on 27/10/2010
.After that another DDM (UCJena) joined and without going for any recovery of
penalty and compounding money, re-suspended the license in the file. What is the
reason of re-suspension? Had the DDM Jena approached the Director for approval
of the compounding?

3. Without
revocation and realisation of penalty and compounding money the same license was
renewed in Oct 2010 by DDM, Joda, U.C.Jena. How it was possible?

4. The
licensee after suspension on Oct 2009 had deposited the un-approved compounding
and penalty money worth 4/5 lakhs in shape of bank draft with DDM Joda P C Patra.
The same BD was lying at Joda office for 2010, 2011 & 2012 and lastly it was
revalidated and encashed only at a later part of 2013 0r 14.The compounding has
not been approved. What is the reason?

5. The
licensee had been allowed by U. C. Jena, DDM - Joda, to transact ore even during the
suspension period, i.e., from Oct 2009 till the date of its renewal on Oct 2010,
which can be seen from the monthly returns submitted. U.
C. Jena DDM Joda knowingly allowed the illegal ore trafficking of around 2/3 lakhs tons, mostly from the Uliburu illegal pit. What action you have taken
against Jena, DDM - Joda?

6. As the
Director you had made sufficient enquiry on this matter - through your state
level enforcement squad and had written 4 to 5 letters enclosing the report of
the squad to Sahu, DDM - Joda, for further examination, during past two years. Have
you taken any action? OR have you apprised the government about the facts? It
has caused heavy financial loss to the state exchequer.

7. Lastly the
licensee had installed one crusher and screening plant at the siding illegally.
Now it has been removed by the licensee. How was it possible when the license
had been granted for storing of ore for onward transportation by railway?

The reply of
the Director of Mines was that it was an old case and he did not remember.
Anyhow he received the questionnaire and assured the answers would be made within
a month. But there is no answer till date.

DSPL submitted first
monthly returns for October 2008 in Form-E to Joda Circle wherein a quantity of 1,43,959 MT of iron ore was shown as the
opening balance. How did it happen? No answer from DDM, Joda.

Also the DSPL submitted monthly returns from October 2008 to June 2009 showing that
it had
procured iron ore of 4,62,967 MT from Jharkhand state and dispatched. Only in
2014, DDM,
Joda had written several letters to the railway for ascertaining
this transaction. But they all remained un-answered till today.

Also DSPL had installed a
screening plant at Hisaburu railway siding illegally. The monthly returns from
October 2008 to February 2009, submitted by DSPL to Joda Circle Office, show that
they had screened iron ore and had dispatched 57,298 MT of sized ore through
railway rakes. When the license was granted for storing and not for processing, DDM, Joda had not issued permits against this dispatch.
So, this is totally
illegal procurement from the mafias operating illegal pits inside jungle. If calculated at the minimum price of OMC i.e. Rs.5000/- per ton, the
loss that the government had suffered is at least Rs.2364 crore.

On 14/10/2009, a joint
inspection was conducted at the DSPL Hisaburu railway siding by the Mining
Inspectors and Mining Officer Joda, Officers from Pollution Control Board
Keonjhar and Commercial Tax Dept. The then mining officer, Joda seized about
41,000 tons of iron ore on the spot. The irregularities of DSPL came to
light. On basis of the joint inspection, DDM Joda, Purna Patra, suspended the
DSPL license No. 68867, vide letter No.49133 dt.27/10/2009, and asked a
show cause. The DSPL replied to the show cause on dt.29/10/2009.

On
21/11/2009, DDM Patra examined the reply and ordered to impose a penalty
of Rs. 25,000/- and to realize the cost price of excess iron ore found at the
time of inspection from DSPL. As per rule the cost price realization means
compounding and it has to be approved by the Director Of Mines. No such approval
from the Director of Mines had been taken.

The Daily Revenue Collection Register
(18 Mines Register ) maintained by the Joda circle office and its abstract at
Directorate of Mines from 2008 to 2013 show that the recovery of penalty and
cost of excess ore have not been realized till 2013 by DDM Joda.

The DDM Joda, Purna Patra
proceeded on long leave in the month of November 2009. The Mining Officer remained
in charge of the Circle office for few days till Umesh Chandra Jena
joined as the DDM Joda.

The license of DSPL was under
suspension since dt.27/10/2009 and there was no revoke of suspension, but the
dispatch and procurement of iron ore by DSPL was continuing and the DDM Joda was
issuing permits to this effect. Again the DSPL applied for the renewal of
license on 26/07/2010 and interestingly DDM Jena opened a new file
NO.60VA-579/2010 and processed for the renewal putting aside the original file
No.60VA-542/2008. This was only to suppress the illegality of DSPL documented in the
original file. The whole of Joda Mining Circle Office co-operated Haricharan
Gupta and, taking advantage of it, DDM Jena renewed the storing license of DSPL on 29/09/2010,
which was effected from 27/10/2010 to 26/10/2012. How was it possible without revocation of suspension
and realization of penalty and compounding money?

During the suspension period
till illegal renewal of license (dt.27/10/2009 to 26/10/2009), DSPL had
procured 3, 31,546 MT and dispatched 3, 81,906 MT of iron ore. Total
22 numbers of permits had been issued by DDM U.C.Jena to DSPL within the suspension
period. After the renewal of DSPL license, wef 27/10/2010, more permits had
been issued by DDM Jena in favour of DSPL.

Though the illegal Uliburu mines
operated by Deepak Gupta was suspended by Purna Patra the then DDM Joda
vide Letter No. 50191/Mines/dt.06.11.2009, father of Dipak Gupta, Hari Gupta, operated the Hisaburu railway siding in the name of DSPL. The
illegal production of iron ore was stopped. But without any permit the
evacuation of iron ore from the illegal Uliburu mines continued through Hisaburu
railway siding. Amazingly Joda DDM U.C.Jena went a step forward in co-operating
the illegality and issued permit No.1929/dt.23.01.2010 in favour of DSPL for
transport of 889.624 (size iron ore 5-18) tons of iron ore from Hisaburu railway siding to
Uliburu sponge iron plant, which was struggling for raw material because of suspension of Uliburu mines.

The lifeline of the iron ore
transportation from Uliburu mines to Hisaburu railway siding was a new route
discovered and developed by the Guptas. It is through the Belkundi Reserve Forest and inside
the granted iron ore mines of OMDC. The 5 KM long forest road had been widened
by felling at least 200 numbers of average 5 feet girth Sal trees illegally. The
OMDC as a Central Govt. undertaking company had objected to it. But the then DFO
Keonjhar Pradeep Raj Karat had overruled the objections raised by OMDC. Plying
of loaded vehicles had been allowed by DFO Karat. The state vigilance has
only booked Karat in the Uliburu mines case, where mining was done inside the Uliburu
Reserve Forest by shifting the forest boundary pillars.

The vigilance has submitted
supplementary charge sheet No.06/2014 at the Keonjhar Vigilance Court on
24/6/2014 wherein the document recovery point no.13 and 14 indicate that the
tour diary of Karat confirms his visit to the illegal reserve forest
road where huge transportation of iron ore was continuing (2004 to 2009). It
reveals that Karat was having knowledge about the ongoing illegal forest and
mining activities. The vigilance had also mentioned in the charge sheet that the
prime accused Deepak Gupta had been interrogated and had admitted that DFO Karat
allowed him to transport the iron ore from illegal Uliburu mines to Hisaburu
railway siding and to his father’s sponge iron plant situated at Uliburu village,
using the forest road inside the Belkundi reserve forest.

Despite the above stated
facts, vigilance never inquired into the Hisaburu railway siding. Very lately, the
Director of Mines sent the State Enforcement Squad to Hisaburu for inquiry in
2013. After receiving the confidential investigation report of the squad, the
Director of Mines is still sitting on it and not forwarding it to the government
for action since last one year. Reasons are best known to him. Only the DM is
killing time in a bureaucratic way by forwarding the report to the DDM Joda for
examination and views, which is not at all warranted. The DDM Joda Satyanand
Sahu had also complied the letters of Director of Mines 4 - 5 times during the
last year.

Justice Shah
Commission of inquiry on Illegal Mining in the State in its final report
submitted to the Hon'ble Supreme Court had also praised the inquiry report of
State Level Enforcement Squad on Uliburu and had suggested for CBI enquiry as
the government officials and the State Govt. and the illegal miners were in
connivance causing heavy loss to the state and environment.

But, so far, no significant
action has been initiated either by the state or the central government in this
direction. And now, as the story of a bigger scam in Hisaburu is being
unearthed, it’s to be seen if the government seriously deals with the scamsters
to save its face or takes all measures to cover it up in the guise of action.